Nieuw Brits overlastplan (exclusief ASBO) kost verhuurders miljoenen

De regering van het Verenigd Koninkrijk lanceerde deze week nieuwe plannen om overlast aan te pakken. Naar nu blijkt, kost dit nieuwe plan verhuurders tien miljoen pound.

Inside Housing meldt:

“Under reforms proposed this week, local authorities and housing associations will be forced to act on anti-social behaviour when tenants make complaints. The Home Office intends to replace anti-social behaviour orders and other court orders in England and Wales with a range of new tools.

The reform package could leave councils with a £10 million bill for taking tenants who breach orders back to court. The Home Office has confirmed that councils will pick up the £1,000 administrative and legal costs of dealing with a breach. This was previously paid for by the police. Last year, more than 10,000 ASBOs were breached.

Janine Green, ASB team manager at Sandwell Council, said: ‘The local authority would have to deal with the cost of breaches and in a time of cuts that’s potentially a concern.’

Social landlords will be duty-bound to deal with anti-social behaviour problems in their stock under the shake-up. Peter Jackson, director of the Social Landlords’ Crime and Nuisance Group, said he was also concerned councils would have to take responsibility for private properties.

‘This has serious implications for the private sector because landlords could be accountable for their tenants’ behaviour,’ he said. ‘If they don’t want to get involved, which they often don’t, it’s then down to the local authority or the social landlord to deal with it.’

But Ian Munro, chief executive of New Charter, said the reform felt like ‘moving the deckchairs around’. He added: ‘The combination of powers doesn’t add much more to what we’ve already got. We haven’t lost anything, they’ve just reconfigured things.’

Crime prevention minister James Brokenshire described ASBOs as ‘slow and expensive’.”